Wow, Matt Russell goes back to the New England well once again. Color me astounded.

When is Elway going to hire some real personnel people to work on this team rather than retaining all these McDaniels lackeys? I could understand if Jarvis Green, LaMont Jordan, Chad Jackson, Laurence Maroney, Jabar Gaffney, Brandon Gorin, Russ Hochstein, Ty Law, Ty Warren, LeKevin Smith or Lonie Paxton had worked out as planned but why are we continuing to go back to the New England well when the results have been disastrous?

Elway has done a phenomenal job, even when I doubted him. Even this year's free agent class has paid some early dividends. But one how many New England castoffs is it going to take before Elway and Russell realize that the Pats only release players who are either injured, injury prone, washed up or who flat out suck?

AAA,

You are telling the roster doesn't look good after watching real football the first weekend? All of the people you have mentioned above are gone or are injured (Ty Warren, by the way played outstanding until tearing his triceps, again). The roster overall is so much better with Russel and Elway running the show than McDaniels ever was. You were high on McDaniels hire and the 6 game winning streak if I remember correctly (I'm getting older and still remember being upset about drafting Royal over Jackson) but it's time to let go. Russell and Elway have done a great job of filling needs and adding to the depth chart. Let's make a deal, never ever mention McDumass ever again.

What does this say about/to CJ Davies and Phillip Blake ? Also, I thought we needed DEFENSIVE line help...

Blake might not be a reliable snapper yet?

AntiSuperstar wrote:

Donut wrote:

~Gaffney I thought did exactly what was wanted from him. He had a 700 yrd and 800 yrd season. not sure what you expected?

Gaffney is garbage. When he steps on the field, opposing defenses can know there's one less guy on the field to worry about beating anyone deep and nevermind his negative presence on running plays. Even a nobody role player like Anthony Armstrong becomes missed when someone like Jabar Gaffney replaces him. The guy only makes the rotations of teams with bad wide receiver play. He puts up ok numbers in these situations and know-nothings think he's good as a result. If he was so good smart teams wouldn't be dumping him and then putting together actual receiving cores in subsequent seasons. How come the Texans, Patriots, Broncos, and Redskins never missed him and it seems only the goon McDaniels seems to be attached to Gaffney?

The Patriots missed him? In 2009 we had Edelman(absolute garbage) and Sam Aiken(even worse than garbage). He is a solid 3rd or 4th WR. He's not amazing but he was a consistent route runner and put up decent production and had solid hands.
Skins brought in younger WRs and were deciding between him and Moss and took the long time redskin that didnt have any PR issues._________________

I thought Russ Hochstein worked out just fine. He was a good backup. You're being unfair to him dragging him in there with all those scrubs.

Hochstein's only real value was his positional versatility. Because of his smarts, experience and dedication, he knew the assignments of each of the 5 OL spots on all plays. Thus, in a pinch, he could fill in and at least wouldn't make any mental mistakes.

But he lacked the mobility to pull effectively and to get to the second level and he lacked the strength/power to anchor in pass protection or move DLs off the line in the run game.

Let's not pretend here. Hochstein was signed because Mac needed to get as many New England guys in the locker room as possible to tow his party line.

ToastedOats wrote:

You are telling the roster doesn't look good after watching real football the first weekend? All of the people you have mentioned above are gone or are injured (Ty Warren, by the way played outstanding until tearing his triceps, again). The roster overall is so much better with Russel and Elway running the show than McDaniels ever was. You were high on McDaniels hire and the 6 game winning streak if I remember correctly (I'm getting older and still remember being upset about drafting Royal over Jackson) but it's time to let go. Russell and Elway have done a great job of filling needs and adding to the depth chart. Let's make a deal, never ever mention McDumass ever again.

Ty Warren has been in Denver for 18 months, was on the roster (meaning we controlled his rights and paid him) for 19 regular season/playoff games, has collected $5.5 million in salary and has played barely more than one half of meaningful football. I can't qualify that has having "played outstanding." He was effective, sort of, but I wasn't watching the game Sunday night and confusing Warren with Ndamukong Suh.

The roster is better with Elway/Fox/Russel than it was with Mac/Russell/Xanders? and I will be the last one to argue otherwise. But in 2011 the Broncos' prized defensive free agent signing was Warren who coming off an injury and had just been cut (with good reason). If there's one thing we know about the Pats' personnel moves it's that they only release players who are a) old and past their prime, b) injured and unlikely to regain their previous form, c) want more money than they're worth or d) all of the above. "D" applied in Warren's case. Why did we sign him and why did we sign Koppen when there were a number of other options available? The only conclusion I can reach is that when Matt Russell goes looking for free agents to recommend he runs home to daddy, so to speak.

If that's the case, and it certainly appears it is, then Elway either needs to find a new person to run player personnel who doesn't have that trait or learn what we all know about signing New England castoffs._________________big_palooka:
BroncosCSU RamsRockiesTiger Woods

I thought Russ Hochstein worked out just fine. He was a good backup. You're being unfair to him dragging him in there with all those scrubs.

Hochstein's only real value was his positional versatility. Because of his smarts, experience and dedication, he knew the assignments of each of the 5 OL spots on all plays. Thus, in a pinch, he could fill in and at least wouldn't make any mental mistakes.

But he lacked the mobility to pull effectively and to get to the second level and he lacked the strength/power to anchor in pass protection or move DLs off the line in the run game.

Let's not pretend here. Hochstein was signed because Mac needed to get as many New England guys in the locker room as possible to tow his party line.

ToastedOats wrote:

You are telling the roster doesn't look good after watching real football the first weekend? All of the people you have mentioned above are gone or are injured (Ty Warren, by the way played outstanding until tearing his triceps, again). The roster overall is so much better with Russel and Elway running the show than McDaniels ever was. You were high on McDaniels hire and the 6 game winning streak if I remember correctly (I'm getting older and still remember being upset about drafting Royal over Jackson) but it's time to let go. Russell and Elway have done a great job of filling needs and adding to the depth chart. Let's make a deal, never ever mention McDumass ever again.

Ty Warren has been in Denver for 18 months, was on the roster (meaning we controlled his rights and paid him) for 19 regular season/playoff games, has collected $5.5 million in salary and has played barely more than one half of meaningful football. I can't qualify that has having "played outstanding." He was effective, sort of, but I wasn't watching the game Sunday night and confusing Warren with Ndamukong Suh.

The roster is better with Elway/Fox/Russel than it was with Mac/Russell/Xanders? and I will be the last one to argue otherwise. But in 2011 the Broncos' prized defensive free agent signing was Warren who coming off an injury and had just been cut (with good reason). If there's one thing we know about the Pats' personnel moves it's that they only release players who are a) old and past their prime, b) injured and unlikely to regain their previous form, c) want more money than they're worth or d) all of the above. "D" applied in Warren's case. Why did we sign him and why did we sign Koppen when there were a number of other options available? The only conclusion I can reach is that when Matt Russell goes looking for free agents to recommend he runs home to daddy, so to speak.

If that's the case, and it certainly appears it is, then Elway either needs to find a new person to run player personnel who doesn't have that trait or learn what we all know about signing New England castoffs.

Your hate on Russell and his NE connection is somewhat off base. First of all, Russell was only with NE as a scout in 2001 and the years 2003-2005. He was most recently with Philly (06-0 as a scout, before he came back to Colorado. So he has been removed from NE for 7 years.

Anyways, Koppen was hired primarily from the input from our line coach Dave Magazu, who is familiar with him from his years as Boston College. I will give you this though, Russell was around when Koppen was drafted in 2003 and Im sure he had some input into making that decision back in 2003 because he was an area scout. But we can't get ahead of ourselves about this signing because Koppen has been brought in for depth purposes and for only 1 year at the vet minimum.

Now I would be unhappy with this signing if he was brought in to start, but this signing speaks depth! And the release of CJ Davis indicates that even more.

Funny enough, his 2003 -2005 tenure in NE brought in 5 pro-bowl football players, so that may be some indication to his skill as a talent evaluator.

Finally, your argument is primarily based off of the signings made by McD. Who, if you don't remember, controlled every aspect of this franchise. So I attribute those signings to him and not Russell. Heck, since Russell has been here with Elway, we have only signed two NE players, Warren and the newly added Koppen. Every other player with a NE connection from McDs time, is not with the team anymore. (I think your dislike for him might be cause he is a CU Buff? haha)[/url]